A new Greek star is born: Toliopoulos saves Greece

DEN HAAG (Netherlands) - Vasileios Toliopoulos pulled off his best Vassilis Spanoulis impression in pouring in 26 points to lead Greece to a 74-72 win over Netherlands to remain undefeated in Group F of the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers.

With former Greek scoring legend Spanoulis on the bench as head coach, the Aris guard Toliopoulos scored a decisive layup with 29 seconds as Greece moved to 2-0 in the group and narrowly avoid losing to Netherlands for the first time in 42 years

"I think it's a great win. In European basketball, there is no easy game - everybody can beat everybody," said Spanoulis, who won his second straight game to start his Greece national team coaching career.

"For me, most important is to change the culture of this country in basketball. Their attitude is the number one thing to succeed in basketball."

Toliopoulos drained four three-pointers in scoring 26 points to go with 8 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals. He picked up seven points in the first quarter and two more in the second period.

Toliopoulos really took over the scoring responsibilities in the third quarter as he knocked down three of his triples in tallying 15 points in the period. And then he saved his last score for when it counted most .

The performance by Toliopoulos was all the more impressive after he scored just 2 points in 11 minutes of Greece's earlier victory in the window. 

This could finally be the breakout performance the 27-year-old needs to leave his mark on the national team. After playing for Greece in five youth national team tournaments, Toliopoulos had one appearance in the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Qualifiers and played two games in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Qualifiers.

FIBA